French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he would discuss European allies from the possibility of using France’s nuclear deterrence to protect the continent against Russian threats, in concerns about the potential disengagement of the United States.
France is the only nuclear power in the European Union.
Macron, in a television address before a special European summit Thursday, described Russia as a “threat to France and Europe” and said that he had decided “to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent by our deterrence (nuclear)”.
He said that the use of nuclear weapons in France would only remain in the hands of the French president.
Macron’s decision comes in response to an thrust of the winner of the German elections Friedrich Merz, who recently called for a discussion on “nuclear sharing” with France.
EU leaders should tackle the issue of nuclear deterrence, among other subjects, at the Thursday summit in Brussels, focusing on support for Ukraine and European Defense. NATO European allies have counted for decades on powerful American deterrence.
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“The future of Europe should not be determined in Washington or Moscow,” said Macron, insisting that “the innocence of the last 30 years” which followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 is “now over”.
Macron said Russia now spent 40% of its state budget in military spending, with plans to extend its army by 2030 with 300,000 additional soldiers, 3,000 tanks and 300 jet fighters. “Who can believe that today Russia will stop in Ukraine?” Macron asked.
Allies must ensure that Russia would no longer help Ukraine after signing a potential peace agreement, Macron said. This means providing “long-term support for the Ukrainian army” and perhaps deploying European forces, he said.
These forces “would not fight on the front line, but they would be there, on the contrary, once peace has been signed, to guarantee that it is fully respected,” said Macron. He said that a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff of the European Nations Army wishing to get involved should be held in Paris next week.
US President Donald Trump has put pressure on Europe to have more protection expenses on the continent, and officials of the Trump administration said that the current level of American engagement may not be forever.
Macron also said he hoped to convince Trump not to impose prices on imports from Europe. Trump threatened to impose prices of 25% on European goods, arguing that the European Union has deliberately undermined trade with the United States, which EU leaders have denied.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
